Baghdad looking like city under siege

The officer in full combat gear stood in the middle of the road peering south through his binoculars. Around him, Iraqi soldiers dug ditches and shifted ammunition from trucks to fighting positions.

Others stood guard at the last Iraqi checkpoint 12 miles south of Baghdad's centre. Beyond them were the Americans.

Allied forces approaching Baghdad from the south may face a tough battle from thousands of well-concealed troops and militiamen armed with anything from Kalashnikovs, artillery to multiple rocket launchers and mortars.

They are in trenches, fox holes, empty houses and in orchards.

It promises to be the battle for which President Saddam Hussein wants to be remembered in the history books -- an epic story of an underdog that had the courage to fight a seemingly invincible enemy.

Iraq's president of 23 years, Saddam repeatedly has betrayed a tendency to see history to be largely made on the battlefield. This time, it's no different as he faces a battle for his own survival and that of his regime.

"Throughout history, evil invaders have targeted capitals and believed battle would be in the capital. But when the capital is steadfast and the invaders are defeated and repelled, they retreat in defeat," Saddam told Iraqis in an address read on his behalf today by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

Later, Saddam himself appeared on Iraqi television, urging his followers to strike the attackers "forcefully."

The final outcome of the battle for Baghdad, which began on Thursday night when US troops attacked Saddam International Airport south-west of the capital, may not be known for weeks or even months to come.

Even if the city's defences collapse in the face of the Americans' far superior firepower and their complete domination in the air, thousands of militiamen and hardcore members of Saddam's Baath Party may carry on fighting -- street to street and alley to alley.